“I learned about the data center as soon as the scrappy sign was erected. I was thrilled to see something new; my drive hasn’t changed much in three years. I was less thrilled for Pine Island, which has, like many rural Midwestern towns, become an unlikely microcosm of the AI debate.”
The Paris Review
Posted inEditor's Pick
All My Dad’s Sons
“At a very young age, I learned a lot about how life can go wrong. It put things into perspective, even if that perspective was a little warped.”
Posted inReading List
Seeing is Believing: A Reading List on Making Meaning from Data
Eight stories on the power and beauty of visual communication.
Posted inReading List
‘Actually Really Sacred’: A George Saunders Reading List
Nine essays and interviews from literature’s favorite laureate of compassion.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Balthazar, 1997
“The noise between the world in which we had known each other and the world I occupied now went silent, or maybe only hushed.”
Posted inFeature
Best of 2025: The Stories You Missed
In a year of exceptional reading, these overlooked stories refused to let us go.
Posted inFeature
A Year in Reading: Inward Journeys
Navigating a world in flux demands some understanding of who you really are, and some of my favorite pieces from this year speak to that need.
Posted inFeature
A Year in Reading: When We Are Redefined
From bull rides to military parades, the world transforms us in surprising ways. The best stories get close enough to document our transformation.
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
In this edition: the appeal of the surreal, decoding AI dreck, goop relations, learning to think, and pigeon racing pitfalls
Posted inEditor's Pick
Homeward Bound: On Pigeon Racing
“They flap their wings as fast as they can until they disappear over the horizon—all heading toward Chicago, all heading home.”